Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe
By Richard Otega Enyeh
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe was full of thanks to the almighty God for clocking 60 years on Sunday July 28.
Nneka, a good combination of beauty and brains is reputed to have given an outstanding performance in the nation’s financial services sector gathered close friends and family members to thank God for seeing her through her endeavours so far.
To say Onyeali-Ikpe gave a splendid account of herself as the CEO of Fidelity Bank is like stating the obvious and is evident in leading the bank to close the 2023 financial year with strong double-digit growth across key income and balance-sheet lines with profit before tax growing by 131.5% to N124.3bn from N53.7bn in 2022FY, leading to an increase in Return on Average Equity (RoAE) of 26.5% from 15.6% in 2022FY, her proactive efforts also manifested when the bank opened its N127.10bn rights issue and public offer in June, becoming the first bank to go public following the recapitalisation directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria issued in March.
This wasn’t surprising to many industry watchers, as the innovativeve banker has consistently advocated that “women must work hard, invest in their personal development, constantly up-skill and gain deep knowledge of their industry, for them to break the ice in their careers” adding however that it is “extremely important that we create enabling environments for women to thrive and maximise their full potential.
